Tiger Woods ties his course record in taking lead at Sherwood

Tiger Woods hits a tee shot on the second hole during the second round of the Northwestern Mutual World Challenge golf tournament at Sherwood Country Club, Friday, December 6, 2013, in Thousand Oaks, Calif. (Andy Holzman/Los Angeles Daily News)

THOUSAND OAKS — Tiger Woods is setting the stage for a Hollywood-like ending for the final Northwestern Mutual World Challenge at Sherwood Country Club.

Woods made 10 birdies Friday and shot a course and tournament record 10-under 62, tying his record he set in the second round in 2007. Woods took over the lead from Zach Johnson and is 11-under for the tournament. Johnson is two shots back at 9-under after shooting a 4-under 68, and Matt Kuchar is three shots back after a 68.

Asked about his round, the first thing Woods said was “it’s good” and flashed that trademark smile. He’s flashed that confident smile so often before, especially during the dominant run in his event, which he’s already won five times.

All round, Woods was sticking his approach shots close to the pin, giving himself short, makeable birdie putts. About the only thing he missed was an 8-footer on the 17th; otherwise his putter was on fire. His irons were, too.

“I certainly hit it good, obviously, but I left myself in some good spots most of the day,” Woods said. “Most of my putts I made. I only made probably two putts that were downhill. Most of them were uphill. I hit a lot of good shots, leaving myself in these spots so my putts weren’t really that difficult to make, and then when I did have those downhillers and they were breaking a little bit, they were inside 10 feet, so it wasn’t too bad.”

Not bad at all.

Woods started his round — delayed by an hour due to frost once again — with a birdie on the first hole and continued to tear up the course after that.

The world’s top-ranked player knows the course well since he’s hosted the tournament for 15 years and it’s been at Sherwood 14 of those years. Woods has won here six times.

Woods is moving the tournament to Florida, so this is the final year of the event. The Tiger Woods Foundation benefits when Woods wins because Woods typically donates his winnings back to the foundation. This year’s winner receives $1 million.

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In the first round, Woods shot a 1-under 71, but he was nine shots better Friday in a round that featured no bogeys.

Johnson has put together a good tournament as well, turning in back-to-back rounds of 68. He birdied the final hole to make sure his deficit was just two shots instead of three.

“Yeah, I had opportunities,” Johnson said. “I had some putts on the back nine, opportunities I could have got up-and-down for birdie and a couple of those par-5s that I didn’t (take advantage of). Other than that, pretty solid day. No complaints. I mean, you finish with a birdie on 18, especially after yesterday when I bogeyed it, I’ll take it.”

Johnson and Woods will play together in today’s final group. It rained during the third round last year, and there’s a chance for rain for the third round this year as well.

It didn’t stop 16,000 fans from attending last year, and with Woods leading the tournament and this being the final time the event is at Sherwood, you can imagine fans will come out in droves once again.

As Woods was on his birdie run on the front nine, one fan asked, “why is he leaving?”

Many reasons. But Woods has definitely put himself in position to leave with one more win. That would surely be a crowd-pleaser.